Hikari Nara
Hikari Nara (光奈良, Nara Hikari) was a member of Konohagakure. Hikari was a regular member of the ANBU until his team captain left the Konohagakure. After five years Hikari followed in his sensei's footsteps and left the village. After he left the village he improved his skills in stealth and assassination to the point where he was given the nickname "The Silent Death". His proficiency with shadow style also gave him the name "The Shadow". Two years after leaving the village, Hikari caught the attention of his old ANBU captain and ended up joining his terrorist organization, Mayonaka. Hikari is extremely talented and a genius, with an IQ of 226, higher than that of Shikamaru Nara. Background Early Childhood Hikari Nara was born in Konohagakure to Hagoromo Nara and Fumei Kurama. Through the first two years of his life, Hikari showed an extreme level of talent and intelligence. Such prodigious talent was viewed by his mother as the power of the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai. Although she knew that it progressively made the users turn into monsters, she tried to rationalize that Hikari was simply talented. However, soon it became apparent that he had inherited the curse. Not wanting her son to suffer a descent into darkness, Fumei formulated a plan to "end his suffering". Knowing how Hagoromo loved having a child, she got pregnant and had a little girl to try to ease the load on the husband. When Hikari was four years old, the opportunity to save his son from a path of darkness finally showed itself. While Hagoromo was away on a mission, she decided it was time. With tears in her eyes, she decided it was time to kill the boy. She left a note for Hagoromo and went to murder her soon. When she got close to Hikari, he began to cry. Fumei paused for a moment, she had never seen her son cry. Hikari took advantage of the pause to disarm his mother and knock her to the ground. Recognizing the danger his mother presented and seeing no other option, Hikari sliced his mother's throat. Drenched in his own mother's blood, Hikari shed a single real tear as his dead mother lay before him. Trying to get away from his traumatizing experience, Hikari spent his next year training in solitude. Not only did he master all of the technique's the academy had to offer, but he also learnt the Shadow Posession Jutsu and the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Although he had some trouble with teamwork, Hikari learnt to use his natural intelligence to improve his leadership and eventually even became good at working with teams. When he took the test, he passed with flying colors, scoring the top of his class in everything except teamwork, in which he got sixth highest. Year as a Genin After graduating the Academy, Hikari went straight to a Genin team. Upon recommendation from the Hokage, Hikari was put under the tutelage of Shikamaru Nara. Hikari took a great liking to Shikamaru as he was one of the only people he could truly empathize with. With an intelligence that rivaled his own, Hikari greatly enjoyed being around Shikamaru. Shikamaru taught Hikari how to use his shadow techniques to a greater extent. He also taught Hikari about strategy, often playing him in shogi. In many ways, Shikamaru was like a second father. Although he had a great relationship with his sensei, it took a bit longer to warm up to his teammates- Katsumi Shimura and Masahiro Inuzuka . Because his teammates were 12 and he was only 5, his teammates viewed him only as a child. However, over time they learnt to admire Hikari's intelligence and to respect his skill, as he was the most skilled genin in the team. Eventually, his teammates even warmed up to him, finding great amusement in his schemes, sarcasm, and cynnical humor, and even treated him like a younger brother. Although Hikari showed it a lot less, the feeling was definitely mutual, as he cared very much about these teammates. During his time in Team Shikamaru, Hikari's genjutsu prowess also began to show. He spent a large portion of the year as a genin improving upon his genjutu technique. By the time he took his Chunnin exam, his genjutsu was at the level of a Jonin. During the Chunnin exams, Hikari discovered a new technique. He did this when he chained someone in the shadow posession jutsu with low chakra. Because he didn't have much to do with his low chakra, he had to think quickly. When he almost thought he was out of options something struck him. He could feel his opponent's chakra. Not only could he feel their chakra but he was in full control of the enemy's body. So it was a simple matter to use the enemy to transfer chakra to him, allowing him to win the fight and leading to the invention of the Shadow Drain jutsu. He passed the Chunnin exams and won the tournament, the youngest person to win a Chunnin exam tournament. Time as a Chunnin Although Hikari was an amazing strategist, the Hokage, decided not to assign Hikari his own team. This was because Hikari's young age made his subordinates unable to respect him as a leader. Instead, Hikari was a given the task of joining jonin teams and advanced chunnin teams as a strategist. Hikari also spent a lot of his time as a chunning refining his skills and learning new ones. However, when he wasn't training, Hikari tried to spend as much time with his old team as possible. He even went on a couple of missions with them. When he was 11, Hikari was finally assigned his own team, Team Okami, of four talented chunnin who weren't much older than him containing the shinobi Azumi Namikaze, Kaito Aburame, and Ryu Sarutobi. Although he tried to avoid it, Hikari ended up becoming attached to the youngest member of the team, Azumi Namikaze. After a year and a half leading his team, the hokage decided that it was finally time for Hikari to become a Jonin. Jonin Years and Disbanding the Insurgents After graduating his jonin exam, Hikari continued leading his team. They successfully completed hundreds of missions under his supervision, each one more challenging than the last. In between all of these missions, Hikari fell in love with Azumi, despite all of his attempts to remain neutral. They became a couple, however, they agreed to not let it get in the way of work. Eventually, when Hikari was 15, they were so swamped with missions that the Hokage had the team receive help from other teams. During one mission, Team Okami was partnered with Hikari's old team. Their goal was to disband an organization of insurgents trying to start a revolution in the leaf village. After weeks of obtaining intel, the two teams discovered that the insurgents were hiding in the old Uchiha Hideout. They split into a stealthy group and a group focused on blitz attacks. The stealth team, led by Hikari, gave snuck into the main chambers while the blitz team distracted the insurgents. Eventually, the stealth team made its way to the boss. The boss quickly incapacitated two of the shinobi, leaving only Hikari and Masahiro. After fighting for twenty minutes, the boss landed a lethal blow on Masahiro. Angry about the murder of his comrade, Hikari lashed out violently and activated the Kurama Clan Kekkei Genkai. In the genjutsu, Hikari leads the leader to believe he his dead. Through the placebo effect, the leader dies. However, this usage of the genjutsu awakens Hikari's second personality. Hikari's teammates walk in and manage to calm him down and ease him into his old personality. When the two teams return to the village, the Hokage allows them to take a break for two months. However, while the other members of the two teams spend the break relaxing, Hikari spent it training. During his training he figured out how to make himself into a shadow and use the Human Shadow Technique. At the end of the break, Hikari decided to take himself out of a leading position. He made Kaito Aburame the leader and bid his team a sad goodbye which brought many of his teammates, old and new, to tears. At the end of his goodbye, Kaito decided that he wouldn't lead the team, as no one would ever lead it as well as Hikari. So, team Okami was disbanded and Hikari left to the ANBU. ANBU Hikari joined the ANBU with an intention of making no new connections. This was almost successful as he never named the name of any of his teammates. However, he did have a mentor-mentoree relationship with his team captain, Kenpachi Hyuga. He and Kenpachi shared many personality aspects. Kenpachi also taught Hikari how to control the second personality formed by the Kurama Clan's kekkei genkai. During his time in the ANBU, Hikari earnt himself the names "The Silent Death" and "The Shadow" because of his human shadow technique. He also learnt a combination of water and lightning style to aid him in assassination. The ANBU recognized him on his skill on many occasions, even giving him his own sword as a show of gratitude for his contributions to the ANBU. After about three years in the ANBU, Kenpachi left for unknown reasons, leaving Hikari as the leader of the team. He led the team for about two years until one member died during a mission. When Hikari unmasked the corpse, he found that it was the body of Azumi Namikaze's older brother, Akira Namikaze. Upon returning to the village, Hikari quit the ANBU, scared of getting more of his teammate's blood on his hands. Leaving the Village After the incident with Akira Namikaze, Hikaru quit the ANBU. Because all information in the ANBU is classified, Azumi didn't know that Akira died under Hikari's suppervision. Hikari wanted to tell her but he didn't want to lose her. He isolated himself for weeks until eventually he agree to go out with her. He went out with her and they had a good time. However, at the end of their date, Hikari told her that her brother died under his suppervision. Although Azumi was grief stricken after being reminded of her brother, she forgave Hikari and told him it really wasn't his fault and there was nothing he could do about it. Two days later, Azumi hanged herself. Grief stricken, Hikari hated himself. Eventually he decided that the only way to escape his self loathing was to leave the village and find some way to atone for his sins. As he was leaving he was approached by Kaito Aburame. Kaito tried to stop Hikari from leaving but was easily overpowered. After walking all the way to the valley of the end, Hikari was found by a team led by Shikamaru and containing Katsumi Shimura, Kaito Aburame, and Ryu Sarutobi. However, Hikari was able to outsmart them and escape. He then walked away from the village, looking back once to reminisce about the days in the village, good and bad. Joining Mayonaka After leaving the village, Hikari did a lot of thinking about the state of the shinobi world. After a lot of reflection, Hikari came to the final conclusion that in history, times of peace only served as intermission between wars. Therefor, the only way to create eternal peace would be through a lot of violence. So, if he wanted to restore peace he had to train, and so he trained in solitude. After two years of training, Hikari was approached by the mysterious man. The mysterious man challenged Akarui to a duel. Eager to test his skills on an actual human being instead of on his own shadow clones, Hikari accepted the challenge. They dueled for hours. It seemed almost impossible to get the better of this man. However, after a while, Hikari got him in a shadow imitation jutsu through a clever strategy. When he had him in his shadow imitation, he admitted to the mysterious man that he knew who he was for almost the entire fight- Kenpachi Hyuuga. He also knew that Kenpachi was only using part of his strength to test his own. Kenpachi then proceeded to tell Hikari about his organization, Mayonaka. Hikari was strangely pleased upon hearing about a terrorist organization which had the purpose of obtaining peace. Kenpachi subsequently offered Hikari a spot in the organization, which Hiakri gladly accepted. Recruiting and partnership Once Hikari was put to work, he was immediately given a job. Mayonaka made Hikari search the lands for another shinobi to join the organization. This was to test his worth to the organization. So, Hikari set forth and traveled across the land, alone once again. He didn't really find anyone worthy of joining the organization. He did meet one intriguing opponent in the land of water;however, he had no interest in joining the organization. His search remained fruitless until he reached the land of wind. During one of his treks through the desert, he noticed another man treking through the desert. His battered clothing and general resistance to the desert denoted that he had been travelling through the desert for a while. Hikari decided to go up to him. The man was dressed in very plain brown robes. His face was covered by cloth which he used to protect himself from the sandstorms. There was a strap slung over his right shoulder which held an enormous cleaver-like sword. On his waist there was another sword, this one thinner, a shorter blade, a samurai sword. Although he normally wouldn't test a samurai, this unknown swordsman's ability to wield the enormous cleaver despite his stature intrigued Hikari. So, Hikari attacked the swordsman. Although Hikari expected him to be exclusively a swordsman, Hikari quickly discovered that the samurai was very capable with ninjutsu. Their battle lasted for an hour and a half until the samurai fell into an intense rage which made him attack Hikari with very heated attacks. Hikari was eventually able to use the swordsman's lack of control in his angered state to get him in a shadow jutsu. He then knocked the samurai out. Hikari found a cave in which he waited for the samurai to wake up. The ronin woke up, tied in metal wire. After a long conversation, Hikari found out most things about his life, mainly that he was an ex-samurai from the Land of Iron named Daremo. When Hikari asked Daremo to join his organization, he reluctantly accepted, faced with no real other choice. The two returned to the Mayonaka headquarters. Upon his return, Hikari was thanked for his efforts. Kenpachi the revealed that he had a partner from Hikari named Kurai Yuki. Kurai not only had the ability to use the Yuki clan's ice release kekkei genkai, he was also able to use the ice to reflect light. This is why they were partnered, Kurai's light could help Hikari's shadows. Appearance Hikari has pale skin, black hair, and onix black eyes. He is often described as attractive, and it is often shown that many girls agree with description. Although he isn't an Uchiha, he slightly resembles Sasuke Uchiha in face structure, and skin and hair pigment. Hikari's hair is of medium length and it ranges from straight to spiky along the story. He is of a medium build and is fairly average in height and width. He has a birthmark above his elbow on his left arm. Clothing Genin As a genin, Hikari wore fairly standard clothing. He wore a dark blue shirt and long grey pants with 6 pockets, 3 on each side. Like Shikamaru Nara, he wore his headband on his shoulder. He also wore his kunai holster on his left leg instead of his right leg as is normal. This was to be able to use kunai during the shadow imitation jutsu and not get kunai thrown at him. Other than this, he had the average packs and sandals that most genin shinobi have. Chunin When he became a Chunin Hikari slightly changed his outift. He wore a black shirt instead of a blue shirt. He also completely stopped wearing a headband completely. This was because he realized that it didn't provide little protection and because it was strategically imprudent to reveal you were from the Leaf Village. He did, however, carry his headband in one of his packets in case he needed to identify himself as a member of the leaf village. When he started leading a team, Hikari decided to wear a flak jacket to echo an aura of leadership. Jonin Although he still wore similar clothing he changed his outfit slightly. Hikair started wearing a blue flak jacket instead of a green one. He also started carrying swords on his back. H ANBU During his time in the ANBU, Hikari wore the regular ANBU vest and arm bracers over a long sleeve shirt. He wore black pants. He also kept the kunai holster on the right side of his leg so he couldn't be distinguished. His mask was extremely plain, just a white mask with narrow eye holes, a thin red smile, and a blue lighting bolt over the eye hole. He also started carrying rope darts which he infused with lightning style chakra to make them versatile. He also carried the sword which was given to him by the village on his back. When Kempachi left the village, Hikari began wearing a black trench coat, a coat that he would keep. When Neo left he also took off the kunai holster completely, keeping weapons inside his coat and on his seals. Post-ANBU After leaving the ANBU and, shortly after, the village, Hikari didn't change his appearance much. The main change was that he stopped wearing the mask. He also decided to burn his headband, as the existence of separate shinobi villages is a concept that must be forgotten to obtain peace. He also started wearing a ring with an amethyst jewel on it. Personality Main Personality Hikari has always been very quiet and introverted. He is exhausted by social contact and usually keeps to himself. Although he was always introverted, he used to be more talkative. However, with the combination of the Kurama Clan kekkei genkai's psychological toll and the misforturnes which have happened to him he has become much more introverted. Although he is very serious and driven, Hikari can also be an extremely funny person, using cynical humor and witty jokes. Although he still has this aspect, a lot of it has faded away over time. He is ridiculously intelligent and is not afraid to show it conversation. He sees and says things as they are. This can make him seem rude and arrogant, as he constantly points out the flaws in everyone else and his own strengths. However, he is not arrogant, only factual. He has stated: "No, no, no, I'm not arrogant, far from it. No, arrogance is a debilitating trait for idiots, as is humility. No, I am just as aware of my weaknesses as I am of my strengths. I just have a lot of strengths." Hikari's factual nature also gives off an aura of coldness. Despite this, Hikari is extremely caring when it comes to people who have made a vast impact in his life, although he may not show it. Hikari is extremely creative and imaginative and he spends a lot of time lost in his own thoughts. He's also extremely patient and is willing to wait extremely long periods of time for his plans and ideas to come to fruition. Although Hikari doesn't like leading, he greatly enjoys autonomy and controlling his own destiny. He is also extremely driven. He is willing to do anything to achieve his goals even if it means taking his own life and that of those around him. Kurama Kekkei Genkai Personality Due to the use of the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai, Hikari has developed a second personality. This personality is noticeably psychopathic. It has no empathy and is bloodthirsty. It's also very manipulative. It's colder than Hikari and definitely shows it. It is selfish and prone to fits of anger. Hikari's second personality greatly enjoys control and controlling everything around it. Unfortunately for everyone, it is just as smart and driven as Hikari's original personality, so it will go through dangerous ends to obtain said control. Abilities Hikari was a genius prodigy who was good at just about anything he tried. Hikari quickly rose through the ninja ranks. By the time most people his age were graduating the ninja academy, Hikari was becoming a Jonin. Hikari was so talented that he was able to fight Kempachi Hyuga, the leader of Mayonaka, on almost equal terms. Even Daremo, one of the most powerful samurai, was unable to face Hikari. Although Hikari's fighting style varies depending on his opponents, he usually likes to go for long convoluted strategies, like Shikamaru before him. However, he likes to fight efficiently, always wasting as little chakra as possible, even if it involves extending the fight. Taijutsu Hikari likes to avoid taijutsu. However, this does not mean he's not good at it. Quite the opposite, he's proficient at taijutsu and is capable of using it at the same level as most powerful Jonin. That being said, he's much better at other forms of combat. When he does use taijutsu, he usually uses it either as a distraction or to test the opponent's abilities. He has fairly average strength, however, he is extremely fast. His fighting style is very technical and is based off the gentle fist. He even studied the location of the chakra points on the body to be able to disable them. However, this doesn't come as easily as it would for a Hyuuga and he prefers not to use it at all. Bukijutsu Kenjutsu Although Hikari is proficient with most weapons, his prefered weapon of choice is the sword. When he was in the ANBU, Hikari was trained to assassinate with a tanto blade and used it on many occasions. However, later he was gifted a longer katana which he still uses. He often infuses his katana with lightning style chakra to make it more versatile. Shuriken-jutsu Aside from swords, Hikari usually resorts to the use of shuriken as a weapon. Although he often uses regular shuriken, Hikari has a fondness for explosive shuriken and often uses them either as diversions or for their destructive power. He has summoning tattoos on his arms so that he doesn't have to carry shuriken with him. Genjutsu As a member of the Kurama clan, Hikari is proficient with genjutsu. He possesses the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai, making him extremely proficient with genjutsu. His genjutsu is so good that those caught in it believe it is real. However, Hikari prefers to only use his Kekkei Genkai when extremely necessary as it strengthens the Id part of his psyche every time he uses it. However, Hikari is still very good with regular genjutsu and often employs them into his strategies. Ninjutsu Ninjutsu constitutes the body of Hikari's strategies. Hikari's ninjutsu can be divided into to categories, setup jutsu and ending jutsu. He uses the setup jutsu to get his opponents in the perfect position for his ending jutsu. As he was an assassin for the ANBU, most if not all of his ending jutsu are designed to kill quickly. Summoning Jutsu Hikari is capable of summoning two talking animals, an oversized wolf named Mamoru(守る) and an owl named Kashikoi(賢い). While Mamoru is often used directly in combat, Kashikoi is usually used as a messenger. However, it has been shown that Kashikoi can also transmit Hikari's genjutsu when necessary. Mamoru focuses on attacking at short range with metallic claws. He also uses lightning style. Although his animals are powerful tools, Hikari often uses them as diversions for greater jutsu. Elemental Ninjutsu Hikari's nature affinity is actually lightning release, something he figured out while trying to learn new Ninjutsu. After perfecting lightning release he also learned water release as a way transmit his lightning efficiently. Aside from those elements, he is capable of using a few minor elemental jutsu of other releases, like Earth Release. Yin Release Hikari has been using Yin style jutsu since he was a toddler, and it shows. He is able to manipulate shadows and illusions to do an almost infinite amount of things. He has developed his Yin chakra to the point that he's capable of turning himself into a shadow and removing other's chakra through their shadows. He is also able to mold his shadows into many different shapes, including tentacles, blades, and even a another person. Powerful as they are, Hikari's shadows have the weakness of needing light to function. Because of this, Hikari's shadows get weaker as the light decreases. So, he has a partner to generate light. He's also capable of using lightning release to generate light, however, the lightning isn't nearly as powerful. Intelligence Hikari has an IQ of 226, meaning his is the smartest person alive on the shinobi world, even beyond Shikamaru in terms of intelligence. He is capable of creating mindblowing plans. He is also able to make his plans go beyond, taking account of the future beyond his current battle. Intelligence is by far his greatest resource, one he uses constantly. Quotes "Personally, I don't think intelligence can be accurately quantified. However, I did graduate the academy at age 5, am able to concoct strategies which plan years ahead, and have invented several jutsu... So yes... I'm a genius." "Trust me, if I didn't need to use you right now you would've been dead 202.6 seconds ago." (Hikari's id) "I find this little game amusing, check mate." I'm not shy, I'm actually quite sociable when I want to be. It's just that talking to you people gives me a headache." Trivia * Hikari literally means light in Japanese, while his his partner Kurai's name literally means darkness. * Along with with Kenpachi Hyuga and Daremo, Hikari was one of the first three characters envisioned for the Mayonaka organization.